A full cut of CTO?

A full cut of CTO? What on earth is that, and why could I possibly need it? Whenever I go out on a shoot, I'm always thinking about how to take my photography to the next higher level.

When you go out shooting a portrait, are you concentrating a lot of your energy on making sure your pictures are sharply focused? For most of us, the answer is no. Sure, we put a certain amount of effort into making sure that the lens is focused, especially with new equipment, but after a while, focusing becomes second nature. Let's think beyond that. What's going on with the background, and with the light. It's outdoors, and it's about 3:30 in the afternoon, still a little too early for the golden light. The sunlight is behind our model Rosalyn's right shoulder. It's a day after a rainstorm. The grass is a gorgeous green and the skys are clear and blue. Due to some harsh sun backlighting her, it's clear that I'm going to need to add some light on Rosalyn's face, but if I just blast away with an electronic flash, the shot's going to look cold.

With a new Nikon, there are lots of times you can shoot without even thinking about white balance, but this was not one of those times. I wanted the look of warm sunlight on the model's face, and I wanted to do it without throwing off the natural color of the grass, the bricks and the sky. The trick: Place a Rosco Cinegel CTO (Color Temperature Orange) Jell over the flash and bump the flash power up about 2/3 stop. This gives the shot that afternoon sunlight look and the model's skin tones look warm. If I tried this shot without the jell and flash combination, adjusting white balance in photoshop, the results would not have been pretty. Getting it right at the moment you trip the shutter is the key. Visualize. Check your preview monitor and histogram. Fix what's not what you want, and keep shooting and checking. It works!

The Five Second Rule

Ok, us guys have all heard of the five second rule. If something good to eat falls on the ground, it's fair game to grab it up and put it in your mouth as long as you get it in five seconds. But the other week I was reading a photography magazine article saying something about five seconds being the right exposure time for a lot of motion blur shots. And you know what, amazingly enough, it seems to work. Of course, any artsie stuff like this needs to come with a caveat. You need to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince using any creative photography technique.

The Envelope Stuffers

Such exciting action! Sometimes editorial photography just bursts at the seams with opportunities for action shots. Then, you have the envelope stuffers. Some stories tell themsleves. This was not one of those times. I had to really look to find the shot that portrayed the story. These guy and gals who sit in a room and stuff envelopes are really special, and there's a lifetime of wisdom to be had from each one if you can coax it out of them. When a church needs to fill a position like a praise team singer or an leading actor in the Passion Play, it always seems like volunteers line up for a shot at their own 15 minutes of fame. These guys are just the opposite. Some of them are retired folks who've been quitely pitching in behind the scenes for 15 years. They come in on Fridays before the weekend services at their church and stuff inserts in all the church bulletins. Thousands of inserts. Week after week. On the surface, there's nothing in it at all for them at all. And that's the real story. An unselfish love. They come because they want to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. When I got done with my shoot, I had a pile of outtakes. Faces of the volunteer workers, closeups, even a group photo with everybody holding bulletins in their hands. But it was the over the shoulder shot of this anonymous, older gentleman's hands at work that best told the story.

Shooting Bikers

Shooting a group of bikers presents some unusual challenges. When shooting people pictures, bonding with the people you're photographing is always a key element of success. When they're glad to have you along, the harvest will be bountiful. When you introduce yourself, the first thing they should see is a SMILE! On this day of shooting, I built new friendships with guys with bicepts of steel and hearts of gold. Photographing vehicles can be very technical sometimes. With the bikes, I did some experimenting around with strong backlighting and fill flash. The top shot has the flash power bumped up to fill in the rider's faces. It worked. I got a little lens flare even though my lens was spotless. Keeping your lens elements clean is key for anything facing into the sun, especially when using wide angle lenses that don't benefit much from lens shades. I also took a number of shots using slow shutter speeds. The middle shot above was taken using a 1/60th shutter speed and continuous autofocus. The bottom shot was taken with a little negative exposure compensation, and was tweaked in photoshop to bring out the texture of the leather some more.

What a great day of shooting!

Night Photography in Historic Downtown Los Angeles

It's not too often you get to use the words "historic" and "Los Angeles" together in the same sentence. Last week I had the opportunity to lead a group of photographers on a night shoot in Downtown LA. We enjoyed a meal at Phillipes, the restaurant where the french dip sandwich was invented, and then set off on a walking tour through Chinatown and Olvera Street, where the buildings sometimes date back to the 1800's. Which for LA is "really old." I mean, in this town, the music from INXS and New Kids on the Block already qualifies as "oldies."

Night photography here is fun. Chinatown's a place to start shooting early in the evening, the shops are open and lit up, and there are people scurrying about. One of my favorite things about low light photography is the way the lack of light allows you to add motion blur to your images. A tripod and a cable release are a must here. While using a tripod and your camera's self-timer might work for landscape shots, nailing down the motion blur you want to capture in the city takes split second timing. A passing bus, a cop on a code three run, a cyclist, or almost anything else that moves is an opportunity. A street photographer working at night needs to know his camera the way a special forces soldier knows his weapon. Alright, he doesn't need to be able to disassemble and reassemble it blindfolded, but it does help to be able to change shutter and aperture, dial in exposure compensation, bracket shots, and use the camera in full manual. And be ready to plunk the tripod down, frame, and shoot in a couple of seconds. It can be done. All it takes is a little practice. What works? Anything with action and color, strong lighting, abstractions of line and shape, or a story to tell. Get together with a friend and go out shooting together!

Worm's Eye View

Pastor Kevin is leading the charge for Jesus in a way that definitely falls "outside the box." As part of the sports ministry at one of California's mega churches, he's up early on a Saturday morning leading a group of mountain bike riders up a trail overlooking the San Fernando Valley.

Always look for unusual angles when you're out shooting. The shot was taken by picking a small aperture, using an off camera, corded TTL flash to frontlight the rider, and holding the camera a few inches off the ground. The autofocus found Pastor Kevin, the flash fired, and the result was an image that captures the essence of Pastor Kevin's ride for a cause bigger than himself.

Dragging the Shutter

Showing action can be an important part of conveying the image your eye sees. Here Deano and the Dynamos, a Christian Music Ministry, are performing at one of the largest churches in Southern California. Deano's jumping and whirling and playing his guitar is so dynamic, it's hard to capture in a still image. In the closup of Deano, I wanted to caputure a sense of motion, so I selected aperture priority mode and set the camera at f-14. The technique of dragging the shutter, that is, intentionally choosing a slow shutter speed, can work with or without a flash, but often the best results come with a flash. If your camera has a flash option for "slow sync" and "rear curtain sync," try turning both of them on. This technique works best with a high powered electronic flash like the Nikon SB-800, but the real key to making it work is taking lots of shots to get the one "keeper" that will become your personal treasure.